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Julie McDonald Zander, an award-winning journalist, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from the University of Washington before working two decades as a newspaper reporter and editor. Through her personal history company, Chapters of Life, she has published more than 75 individual, family, and community histories. Her debut novel, The Reluctant Pioneer, won a Will Rogers Medallion and was a finalist for the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award for Best Historical Novel. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest, where they raised their two children.
Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite
Shattered Peace: A Century of Silence by Julie McDonald Zander is an amalgam of the current day with happenings from around the First World War. Colleen Holmes is a Navy Seabee veteran who served on the front line in the Middle East. She has returned home suffering from PTSD and is estranged from her former fiancé, Peter, as she tries to come to terms with the horrific memories of death and destruction. When she discovers her grandmother has moved into a care facility in Centralia, Washington State, and gifted her house to Colleen, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to break away from Peter and make a fresh start halfway across the country, where nobody knows her and her history. Remodeling the upstairs bedroom, Colleen discovers, hidden inside a wall, an old diary from 1918 and letters between Bridget O’Sullivan and her fiancé, Michael Dillon, a soldier serving in the killing fields of France in World War One. Digging deeper into the town’s history, she discovers the story of the Centralia Massacre on Armistice Day 1919, and the deep feelings about that period that still linger today.
Shattered Peace is billed as Christian historical fiction, but the Christianity inherent in the story is not the central theme. It does not define this fascinating and deeply moving tale. Author Julie McDonald Zander has created the type of historical novel that I adore; one that seamlessly combines fascinating historical events and oddities with a cast of real and fictional characters. The actual story of the Centralia Massacre is itself a truly amazing tale of patriotism, class struggle, bravery, sacrifice, and courage. What this author does brilliantly is add a deeply personal, fictional touch to the story. By telling the story of two war veterans, both suffering from their service, but separated by an entire century, the whole narrative has much greater depth and breadth. I particularly appreciated the juxtaposition between those who went and served at the front and those who, for whatever reason, served at home in essential industries. The animosity between the groups was evident, especially once the workers had experienced better working conditions under government control than those to which they were exposed by the capitalist system. The dichotomy between those trying to establish workers’ rights and the capitalist system they were raised in was rudely exposed by what occurred on Armistice Day 1919. This is an excellent read and one I can highly recommend.
